428 



Popular Science Monthly 



This looks like some strange vegetable growth, but it 

 is merely a caterpillar, with its tubular legs, magnified 



A Mechanical Masterpiece Is the 

 Caterpillar's Wonderful Foot 



EVERBODY knows the caterpillar's 

 ability to cling, yet few persons take 

 the trouble to see how it clings. Its body 

 is made up of thirteen segments, on the 

 first three of which are six true legs. But 

 it is not with these that the caterpillar 

 clings. On the ten abdominal segments 

 there are a number of tubular appendages 

 which might be called "pro-legs," each of 

 which ends in a circlet of small hooks, the 

 last two being claspers. At first glance the 

 accompanying illustration might seem to 

 be of a series of feet, but it shows only one 

 foot. The caterpillar in its transformation 

 discards some of its legs and keeps only 

 four. The rear ones are pulp-like, yet they 

 are interesting structurally though not 

 quite so much so as the front legs. The 

 front legs of a butterfly or a moth have 

 evidently been transformed from the 

 front legs of the larva. 



The butterfly never walks, 

 probably because its legs are 

 always weak, being merely sup- 

 ports during rest; but the front 

 legs are not used even for resting. 

 In the larger and heavier species 

 the legs do not bear the weight of 

 the body at all, since the butterfly 

 clings to the underside of a leaf or 

 twig and depends entirely upon 

 the power of suction of his pro- 

 legs and their hooks for support. 



How to Make a Hanging 

 Window Garden of Dis- 

 carded Sponges 



A SPONGE is such an ugly 

 thing as it grows flabby 

 from service, that it seems 

 almost impossible to think of 

 it hanging in a bay window or 

 other favored spot as an 

 object on which to feast one's 

 eyes. 



But the fact is, that you do 

 not feast your eyes on the 

 sponge, for it is completely 

 hidden from view under a 

 mass of green grass, or better 

 still, of moss, from which you 

 have coaxed hyacinths, tulips, 

 crocuses or narcissi to peep 

 and pour out their fragrance. 

 But the sponge is there and is 

 a most important part of the 

 arrangement. It should be of 

 rather large size. It need not 

 be old; but an old one will serve the pur- 

 pose as well as a new one. It should be 

 looped around with strong twine or copper 

 wire with lengths extending at the top as a 

 means of hanging it, basket fashion. Now 

 soak it in water and insert your bulbs, two, 

 three or four to a sponge according to the 

 size. Chink it over with moss, if you can, 

 or sprinkle it generously with grass seed 

 as a second choice. From now on the 

 sponge must be kept damp but not wet, 

 and in a dark or shady spot. 



As soon as the shoots begin to appear 

 the sponge may be taken from its hiding 

 place and hung in the sunlight. 



At right the sponge is shown with the bulbs just 

 planted. On the left the hyacinths have blossomed 



